My character is James “Jimmy” Morrow whom I created yesterday. He’s an ex-smuggler turned tramp who is wandering the streets of Someplace In America. The basic premise is that James will somehow be transported from his Earth across to another Earth… perhaps an Echo, or a Parallel universe, or somewhere even more exotic.

I feel that James got out of the smuggling game for fear of something – perhaps a group he was flying for decided to cut him out of a deal by killing him and James simply fled. Our situation sees James as a wandering vagrant, choosing to keep moving partly out of that fear but also because he has wanderlust.

What we see in the spread is that this situation becomes unstable because of a crime being committed. James is resistant to getting involved because he fears the infamy that exposure will bring: he has friends in the tramp community. He’s trying to square his life with a commitment to a Christian asceticism, and he’s left that life of crime far behind.

We see a crime committed that drives James’ wrath enough to force him to act. It’s this involvement that will lead to James being set adrift. Once he is adrift he is drawn towards the mysterious “Wolf” and his first goal is defined by “Obliviousness”. These last two points are just going to be filed away for future reference – in game terms, I am adding “The Wolf” to my character list and “Obliviousness” to my Threads list.

I have two questions:

What is this crime that drives James crazy with anger?

How does James end up adrift in reality?

As usual, this is an actual play report which features my notes typed during the game. It’s largely unedited and mixes the ongoing story with explanation of what I am doing as I play. Enjoy!

Diving Into Play…

To spark some ideas, I am going to ask the first question of the Mythic Deck. I ask an Event Question: “What crime happens that drives James crazy?”

We draw three cards for an Event: Focus is Move Away From A Thread; Travel New Ideas. That’s interesting. The only Thread I have is Obliviousness – in this context I am interpreting this as James’ decision to travel aimlessly. Perhaps he is being drawn into an experiment to try out some new ideas about travel. I imagine an organisation that is picking up vagrants to test out some form of parachronic projector. Our opening scene could involve James becoming angry enough to try and stop the experiments. That’s a cool idea – he isn’t ideally suited to this but he does have some skills from his past and a blinding rage. Game on!

“You ok. Jimmy?”

“You gotta be kidding, Jimmy, you can’t go chasing off after Albey like that.” “Listen, Hunter, I gotta know what happened to him. The word is that some mooks in a black SUV grabbed him off the street last night. We can’t let that ride. For God’s sake, man, he’s a brother!”

James heads out to where he heard Albey was grabbed and, as darkness falls, he settles down with his pack to see what’s what.

Does the SUV return? For the purposes of my story, I am setting that as a Very Likely occurrence. Chaos Factor (CF) 5 doesn’t modify the draw, so it’s three cards looking for any Yes. Draws… No, No, No. You have to laugh, right?

James waits for several hours, his anger simmering under the calm visage he prefers to present to the world. Still no SUV. Rhymes with clucking bell.
Are there any other tramps around? Seems Likely. Draw 2…No, No with Random Event on CF 4-9. That’s us.

Event Focus: NPC Action; Persecute Ambush. Seems like a bit of a gift, right? Let’s have the Mooks try to ambush James on the street… just without the SUV.

I decide to roll James’ Perception to see if he’s aware – 12 or less, rolls 8. I eyeball the Mooks as being skilled with Stealth-12 and roll for them, scoring 12. James has a better margin of success, so we’ll play this as Partial Surprise.

Two guys in black suits come towards the alley at which James is sitting, near the entrance but just in the shadow of the walls. They are approaching from both sides and James looks up just in time to see them.

Roll Initiative, 1d each side. I am giving James +1 for the higher IQ, but +1 to the Mooks for being trained in Tactics (I’ve decided they are hired soldiers). So… James rolls 6 and the Mooks roll 4. James can act first!The Mooks are 1d+3 yards away, rolls 4 for 7 in total.

James is sitting on the floor so he goes for a Change Posture and stands up. The Mook on the left rolls IQ (10), scoring 7 to succeed. He can act next turn.The Mook on the right rolls IQ (10), scoring 11 to fail. He’s mentally stunned.

Is the alley a dead end? 50/50, draw 1… Yes. Crap.

James keeps a small knife in his boot and decides to Ready, drawing it. He decides to tell the Mooks to go copulate with themselves.The Mook on the left decides to Move 5 yards closer. He is smiling at James and says, “Hey, man, chill. We’re not here to hurt you.”The Mook on the right rolls IQ+1 (11), scoring 14 to fail again. He’s dithering on the sidewalk.James decides to run but first needs his pack. He grabs up the backpack with a Ready action.

Is the road busy? Seems unlikely, draw 2 looking for all being yes… Yes, Yes. Arse.

The Mook on the left decides to move in and try to take James down. He makes an All-Out Attack (Determined) and moves 2 yards, adjacent to James, and then Kicks. Let’s give him Brawling-12. He rolls to hit, with +4 for being Determined but also targeting James’ left leg (-2), scoring 13 for success. James opts to Dodge and Retreat too needing 10 and scoring 7. Nice! The man’s leg scythes out but James sidesteps back into the alley and avoids the blow. Still, James is getting blocked in here. The Mook on the right rolls IQ+2 (12) and scores 10 to recover. He can act next turn.

James is 1 yard from the nearest Mook, small knife in his right hand and the off-hand holding the backpack. He decides to Attack the Mook to try and get him out of the way. He makes a step forward and rolls to strike with his Knife-12 skill, rolling 13 to fail. The knife stabs out but James is off-balance with the bag in hand and misses.The Mook nearest opts for an All-Out Attack (Determined), steps into Close Combat (same hex on a battle map, not that I am using one here) and throws a Punch at James face (-5). He’ll need an 11 or less, rolls 11. James needs 7 to Dodge. He opts to Retreat again, going 1 yard back into the alley for a +3 to his Dodge. Rolls 7 to succeed. The Mook, however, is still adjacent to him 1 yard away.The second Mook decides to Ready his pistol and advances 1 yard towards the scene.

James is going to try and Move past the Mook at the head of the alley. He’ll need to Evade to do it though, especially as I think it’s logical the guy would want to stop him. It’s going to be a Quick Contest of DX, -5 for James because the Mook is standing up. James will need 7 or less… rolls 10. The Mook needs 12, rolls 9. Yeah, that went well. James moves in but the Mook quickly blocks his exit and James is forced back to where he was. The Mook is growing impatient and decides to attempt a Grapple. He makes an All-Out Attack (Determined) and rolls his DX+4 (16) to grab James around the torso – rolls 11. James opts to Retreat and Dodge again (7+3 = 10) and rolls 15 to fail. The big Mook grabs him around the chest and restrains James – in game terms, James is -4 to DX until he breaks free or the man lets go.The other Mook moves up 5 yards, gun in hand, and arrives just 1 yard from the alley.

James has to break free (certain 1980s rock music runs through my mind). It’s pretty tough because it’ll be a quick contest of ST with the Mook at +5 for using both hands. James tests his ST (11) and scores 12. The Mook (ST11, +5) rolls 13. James is held in a vice-like grip by the man. The Mook grappling goes for a Takedown, trying to bear James to the ground. This is a quick contest of the best of ST, DX, or a grappling skill. That’s ST for both, really. The Mook rolls 8; James rolls 11. As the Mook has a margin of success 3 higher than James, he succeeds. James is bowled over and lands on his back. The other Mook steps forward 1 yard, points the gun at James’ face and says, “Stop. Now.”

Does James lose his temper? 12 or less to hold it together… rolls 8. He grits his teeth and figures that surrendering might get him closer to Albey anyhow. He raises his hands, dropping the knife and backpack. The guards smile knowingly.

Setting Up Scene 2…

Do they take James to their base? Seems very likely, draw 3… Yes. That’s enough as you only need one Yes for a positive, so we stop drawing. James is picked up, led around the corner to a car, and urged to get in the back. One of the Mooks sits with him, gun to his side, while the other drives. Seems like we’ve reached the end of the scene.

I add the Mooks to my Characters list. I add “Find Albey” to the Threads list. I decide that James’ aim to remain oblivious is still a goal and leave it on the list. Things didn’t go James’ way so we add 1 to the Chaos Factor; CF=6.

We imagine the next scene will take place at the Mook’s base where they are using the captured vagrants to test their new mode of travel. This being a Mythic game, however, we need to check if we get the expected scene by drawing a card. The result is CF 3-9 is an altered scene. In this situation, you are encouraged to imagine the second most likely scene. I have an idea that the mode of travel isn’t technological but is instead a naturally—occurring Nexus Portal. The next scene isn’t at a base but rather James is driven straight to the location of the Nexus Portal and will be shoved through.

Is the Nexus Portal periodic (rather than fixed)? Seems likely, but CF 6 kicks that one step up the ladder to Very Likely, drawing 3… Yes. Let’s imagine the portal only opens at night, during a full-moon. The Mooks want to know where it goes but don’t want to stick their own necks through it just yet. It seems reasonable that this is where Albey went last night, given that full moons generally last three nights, but that assumption is always provisional: this is a solo game, after all.

They’re Bringing Jimmy In…

The car pulls up.

What’s the location like? Description questions draw two cards: Judgementally Good. Ok, interesting. The Nexus Portal is located at the City Courthouse.

The car pulls up outside the Courthouse. It’s night but the streets are lit, although at this late hour there aren’t many people around. James is quietly and calmly walked up the steps to the doors. The Mooks lead him through the door and the Security Guard inside barely looks up from his magazine as they walk past. James notes the posh wooden panelling as he is frogmarched into one of the courtrooms. There, in the full glow of the full moon that penetrates through the large windows, is a shimmering… doorway?

How big is the portal? The setting book says they are usually less than 10 yards and circular. I opt to roll 1D+1, scoring 5.

There is a shimmering circle of light, about 5 yards across, and through it can be seen a darkened space. Perhaps another room on the other side? “What the f…?”The Mooks laugh. “Here’s the deal, mate. You step through the Nexus and take a look around. You give it maybe 10 minutes and then you step back through. Tell us what you see and we’ll give you 100 bucks. Simple.”James takes a moment to get his head around this. Did they bring Albey here last night? Offer him the same deal? WTF?“What did you do with Albey, last night,” James asks.

Are the Mooks inclined to answer? Seems unlikely. CF 6 kicks that one up the ladder to 50/50. Draw 1 card… No.

“Are you gonna do it, or not mate?”

James nods and steps through the portal. Wonder where it goes, eh?

After Play Thoughts

I enjoyed this session. The Mythic Deck worked very well and is a definite improvement over rolling on the big Fate Chart and other collected tables. Much as I do like a good random table, the Mythic Deck greatly speeds up play. I only used the GM’s Apprentice Deck for random names, which was surprising given how much I usually lean on it for ideas.

I want to play some more. GURPS runs well and I am getting more familiar with the rules now that I am playing it more frequently. Like anything, learning arises from doing and repeating the processes. None of the rules are difficult and the apparent complexity falls away during the game. In short, I am enjoying how the game rules help to shape the story.

I’m learning to trust the processes. Leaning into using the combination of game rules and the GM emulation to generate an interesting adventure is a positive development for me. I think I’ve always known that solo gaming is fun, have understood that the processes work, but not entirely trusted that it can produce an emotionally engaging game. I was wrong to hold back and feel that there’s lots of potential in this combination of game elements.

10 Thoughts on “Morrow’s Tale: A Solo Actual Play”

This was a good read and I can’t wait to see where it goes. I wonder whether Jimmy got to take his backpack with him through the nexus or was it left in the alley? As a vagrant, it likely has everyday stuff he’d need.

Ooo, that’s hard because they are slightly different tools. As a solo gamer, I could live without the Mythic cards but I would not choose to live without the GM Apprentice cards. Thus, pushed to the wall, I would choose the latter.